Chivas wants to spark revival against Wizards

Soccer Betting Lines

07/09/2010 - Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chivas USA is winless in seven straight MLS games, but first-year coach Martin Vasquez believes Tuesday's victory over the Houston Dynamo in U.S. Open Cup play could ignite the struggling team.

Vasquez has guided Chivas USA to just three wins through 14 league matches but the California club earned its first-ever win at Houston in the Open Cup, 3-1.

Chivas (3-9-2) has won just one game on the road this year in MLS and is 1-5-1 away from The Home Depot Center but visits the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday with more confidence.

"This win is going to help us to grow and to turn this around in MLS," Vasquez said after the quarterfinal win over Houston.

Chivas USA plays Seattle Sounders FC in the Open Cup semifinals, but that game is more than three weeks away. Chivas has three MLS games in the meantime, and the most important is this week at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City.

"If we can continue in this tournament and spark a revival in the league, then I'm all for it," said Michael Lahoud, who scored against Houston.

Chivas did earn a result in its last MLS match against the Philadelphia Union, a 1-1 draw. Although it wasn't a good enough effort to end its winless streak, it did snap a six-game losing streak.

Justin Braun scored the other two goals for Chivas against Houston, and on the heels of the huge win at Robertson Stadium, the struggling side hopes to start a surge off the bottom of the Western Conference table with a win at K.C.

Chivas is 25 points behind the Los Angeles Galaxy, and at least 10 points back of the top four clubs in the Western Conference.

Kansas City (3-7-3) hasn't played much better than Chivas USA. Despite sitting in fifth in the Eastern Conference, K.C. is just one point off the bottom. The Columbus Crew are 16 points away in first.

The Wizards lost their last match, 1-0, to FC Dallas to remain winless on the road. David Ferriera scored on a penalty kick for Dallas. Overall, Kansas City has just one win in its last 11 dating back to the second of two straight wins to open the season on April 10.

K.C. coach Peter Vermes made a tactical adjustment against Dallas that did not work but he switched back to the team's familiar 4-3-3 formation in the second half and the team played well enough to take some confidence from the loss.

"Our adjustment back to the 4-3-3 put a lot of pressure on them," Vermes said, "and we started to put them on their heels."

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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